300 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[October, 
Fig. 1.— bitter-sweet (Solarium Dulcamara.) 
Talks About Weeds- 
TOISONOUS PLANTS. 
Several inquiries have recently been made at 
the office of the Agriculturist concerning the 
alleged poisonous qualities of two very com- 
mon plants, the Bitter-Sweet, and the Night- 
shade. These are both species of the genus 
Solatium, to which the potato also belongs. The 
Bitter-Sweet is Solatium Dulcamara, a perennial 
half-shrubby vine, with leaves presenting a 
considerable variety in shape, but generally with 
two ear-like lobes at the base like those repre- 
sented in the engraving. The flowers are borne 
in clusters, their purple star-shaped corollas and 
bright yellow stamens making them quite 
showy: these are followed by a berry about the 
size of a pea which is bright red when ripe. In 
Autumn, the brilliant fruit of the vine makes it 
very conspicuous and attractive. The plant is 
sometimes cultivated as an ornamental vine ; it 
runs to the height of 8 or 10 feet, and is used 
like other climbers to cover walls and unsightly 
buildings. Bitter-Sweet is a native of Europe, 
but it is found growing wild in most of the set- 
tled portions of this country. It is found in 
waste places, along the borders of meadows, 
etc. A recent case, in which three children 
died suddenly, was attributed to poisoning 
by eating the fruit of the Bitter-Sweet. It is 
not known positively that the children partook 
of the fruit, but as there was a plenty of it to 
which they had access, it is supposed that it 
caused their death. Since this circumstance 
came to our knowledge, we have been at some 
pains to look up the records, and find that there 
is a great diversity of opinion as to the poison- 
ous character of the berries. 
Some high European author- 
ities state that they are 
positively deleterious, while 
others declare that they are 
harmless. We can only ac- 
count for this diversity of 
opinion by supposing that 
difference of soil might vary 
the character of the plant. 
It is well known that the 
active properties of plants 
are greatly modified by dif- 
ferences of climate. We are 
disposed to regard the plant 
with suspicion. An infusion 
of its twigs is sometimes used 
medicinally, and narcotic ef- 
fects have been produced by 
an overdose ; although it does 
not follow that the berries 
possess the same properties 
as the twigs, yet in the pres- 
ent uncertain state of our 
information, we should ad- 
vise discarding the plant 
altogether from cultivated 
grounds. The berries arc so 
showy that they are likely to 
tempt children to eat them ; 
though we can not say that 
they are poisonous, we are 
not able to saj' that they are 
harmless, and we would ad- 
vise our readers not to tol- 
erate the plant, as the risk 
is altogether too great. — An- 
other species, Solatium nigrum, 
the Common Nightshade is 
very common about dwel- 
lings, and is often found as a weed in gardens. It 
is a coarse annual, 1 to 3 feel high, and very much 
branched. Figure 3 will give an idea of the 
shape of the leaf. The flower is white and the 
berries black. This plant, is much more com- 
mon than the Bitter-Sweet, but not being so 
showv cither in its fruit or flowers, is much less 
Fig. 3. — nightshade (Solatium nigrum.) 
likely to be noticed. The remarks upon the 
poisonous qualities of the Bitter-Sweet will ap- 
ply also to this. It should be exterminated. 
A "Shocking Horse." 
This name does not, in the present instance, 
indicate a four-legged beast afflicted with heaves, 
spavin, etc., but a simple contrivance to facil- 
itate the shocking or " shocking " of corn, as cut 
at the ground. Though long in use in some 
parts of the country, and heretofore described 
in the Agriculturist, it may be new to many of 
our readers. It consists of a light pole, a, 16 to 18 
feet long, with two supporting legs 5 feet from 
the end, and a cross pin, h, about 4 feet long, 3 
feet from the end, at right angles with the 
pole. This pin should be about an inch in 
diameter, and the hole to receive it made large 
enough to allow it to be slipped in or out easily. 
This implement is to be placed with the pin 
where the shock is to stand, the stalks set up in 
the four corners, and when the shock is made, 
the pin and pole may be withdrawn and the ap- 
paratus moved to the place for the next shock. 
It will save considerable time in setting up the 
first stalks, which arc usually placed about a 
standing hill, and will also obviate the necessity 
of afterward tearing open the shock to get at 
the uncut stalks, when the corn is to be husked. 
Wheat on Clover Sod. 
C. S. Mason, Wayne Co., N. Y., writes to the 
Agriculturist: "I have always had the best suc- 
cess in sowing wheat on sod ground. I mow 
clover one year only for hay, and after culling, 
turn the sod under live or six inches deep, and 
harrow lengthwise once, and then diagonally 
once. The wheat is drilled in from the first to 
the tenth of September. Sod ground will stand 
drouth, or if the season be wet, the water has a 
chauce to drain off. The wheat grows strong 
in Autumn, stands Winter better than if sown 
after barley, oats, or peas, and ripens early." 
[We know by successful experience and by 
much observation, that turning under a heavy 
growth of clover, is an excellent preparation 
for a wheat crop. The clover gathers from 
the atmosphere a large amount of nitrogen- 
ous material, which is specially adapted to 
the wants of wheat, while the buried roots and 
stems help to keep heavy soils light and porous. 
Our practice at the West was to sow clover on 
the wheat in Spring, pasture it in Autumn, mow 
the next year, and then turn under a heavy 
second growth, and sow wheat directly upon it, 
without a second plowing. Or, after having 
pastured it in Autumn, the following Spring the 
stock were kept off, and the first growth was 
plowed in while in bloom. This was left 
fallow, the weeds were harrowed down occa- 
sionally, and in Autumn the field was thorough- 
ly harrowed and cross-harrowed, and the wheat 
was sown. This latter plan was adopted when 
the wants of slock required the pasturage in 
Autumn, or when the soil needed recruiting 
by the heavy sward and first large growth 
of clover. This treatment gave an increased 
crop of wheat every second or third year on 
the same land, besides the hay and pasturage. 
When needed, a top-dressing of plaster was 
sown on the wheat in Spring, with the special 
object of promoting a strong growth of clover. 
The effect of this application was very distinct- 
ly seeii, when a laud was left unplastered. — Ed.] 
